Which is more environmentally friendly?

I use refillable mechanical pencils. Sure it takes energy to make the shell of it, but that is only a one time deal. Since I only buy replacement leads for those pencils, there is no repeat cost or use of energy (or wood.) Each little refill pack of lead I get holds 12 pieces of lead. Looking at it from that standpoint, I have saved 12 pencils worth of wood, and the mechanical pencil only took energy (wood) to make it once. I get far more than 12 uses out of each mechanical pencil, and the ones I have are at least (maybe) 10 years old and still work fine. Assuming I put a new lead in once every week would = 52 pieces of pencils (wood) that were saved yearly, and in 10 years use/time, I would have saved roughly 520 pencils worth of wood (compared to the one times worth of energy and wood to make the one mechanical pencil.) 520 pencils doesn't sound like much, but if everybody used mechanical pencils can you imagine how many trees and energy would be saved in the production of them? I like mechanical pencils....they are always sharp, and never need you to find a pencil sharpener, plus in the long run, I think you save lots of money because you only buy your pencil once, and anything after that is a cheap set of leads. I think the mechanical pencil is the lesser of the 2 evils, and costs less energy and manufacturing.

friend this is truly a confusing question to answer. As if we use more of wooden pencil, its good as its biodegradable but on the other hand we need to cut more trees for them which is again a threat to environment . And in case of mechanical pencils they are not bio-degradable but they don't lead to deforestation. But then also i 'll insist to use wooden pencils.

We only buy "wooden" pencil made out of recycled paper. I would think those are the most environmentally friendly.

Well definitely the wooden pencil is environmentally friendly as plastic is not biodegradable.There is war going against plastic bags and plastic things in our country.Wood used for a good cause like pencils is of very minuscule percentage compared to the amount of wood wasted for out vanity and vain glory.

I think this environmentally friendly stuff has gone too far. It has reached the point that I think we are using things that are much worse for us than the traditional items. Just my opinion

Several months ago when I was picking up replacement pencils for the office, I inadvertently bought a box that looked exactly like the yellow wood pencils. I didn't realize until I was trying to sharpen one that it was actually made from recycled plastic. It was much harder to sharpen. The recycling of the plastic, at first, sounds like a good idea. But because, in the sharpening process, the shavings are extremely small, there is seems to be little potential for re-recycling the plastic. Those almost indestructible shavings are going into the garbage and into the land fills. I think that the mechanical, the recycled paper, and the wood all have their places. But that recycled plastic pencil ...